Until the release of Windows 11, the upgrade proposition for Windows operating systems was rather straightforward: you considered whether the current version of Windows on your system still fulfill…
I can hear the ‘just use Linux/BSD/etc.’ crowd already clamoring in the comments, and will preface this by saying that although I use Linux and BSD on a nearly daily basis, I would not want to use it as my primary desktop system for too many reasons to go into here.
This rings a little hollow to me. Most of the people I know that understand Linux can quickly summarize why they might not use it as their daily driver (eg staying on macOS for graphics/video or staying on Windows for desktop Word/Excel). If you can’t summarize that quickly, it really makes me wonder if you really understand it. I’m not trying to No True Scotsman my way around it; I really don’t understand.
The reasons I personally know are “I have to use an app for work, there is no interoperable alternative, I have no leverage to replace that entire ecosystem and it won’t run with wine” and “It’s a company-issued device where I have no rights to change anything anyway.”
Combined, they make the reason that my work Laptop runs Win11, but my private PC is Linux through and through. I’d like to be able to use said app on my private PC too, but if it doesn’t, no big deal.
Right? I tried to switch my primary computer (framework laptop) to Linux earlier this year and ended up going back to windows after I had absolute nightmares with my type-c KVM. Coupled with performance issues while gaming (and the absolute hassle of having to force games to use my graphics card). Add in whatever random issues I was getting trying to remote into other windows machines on my domain (for CAD work). My day job is in software engineering/ programming, so I’m not exactly a stranger to digging through documentation and fixing computer issues, but spending time fixing my computer instead of using it got old pretty quick.
Perfectly happy with Linux in my HomeLab and on my steamdeck though!
See‽ Easy explanation. I get it, absolutely reasonable issues, and one of several areas Linux just isn’t great with. “Too many issues to explain here” doesn’t click with me.
That tweet must be some kind of joke, because I don’t know what to make of the many people who use Linux outside of embedded and server applications. And it doesn’t even have to be my hearsay because the Steam Deck is exactly such a device.
In fact, I have a USB audio interface which I use near daily on Linux that has no driver support in modern Windows, because the vendor only provided beta support for Windows 7 as that OS was releasing. By Windows 8 it was unsupported. So the journey of that device is XP->Stable, Vista->Stable, 7->Unstable, 8±> Non-functioning. If the driver ABI were so stable, why does my device not work on Windows anymore?
FreeBSD has stable ABIs (inside one major version).
Anyway, this is not an answer, NVidia drivers had a binary part and a part compiled during installation for the specific kernel version, that’s one possible solution. Linux developers are ideologically against this, yes, and don’t want binary drivers to be first-class citizens.
Still though.
🐧
This rings a little hollow to me. Most of the people I know that understand Linux can quickly summarize why they might not use it as their daily driver (eg staying on macOS for graphics/video or staying on Windows for desktop Word/Excel). If you can’t summarize that quickly, it really makes me wonder if you really understand it. I’m not trying to No True Scotsman my way around it; I really don’t understand.
Personally, I’m sticking with macOS as my primary OS until the point that Asahi solves DP alt mode and I can run two displays from it.
My 2014 Mac mini runs Mint, so I’m more than happy to dive in to Linux as my main.
The reasons I personally know are “I have to use an app for work, there is no interoperable alternative, I have no leverage to replace that entire ecosystem and it won’t run with wine” and “It’s a company-issued device where I have no rights to change anything anyway.” Combined, they make the reason that my work Laptop runs Win11, but my private PC is Linux through and through. I’d like to be able to use said app on my private PC too, but if it doesn’t, no big deal.
Right? I tried to switch my primary computer (framework laptop) to Linux earlier this year and ended up going back to windows after I had absolute nightmares with my type-c KVM. Coupled with performance issues while gaming (and the absolute hassle of having to force games to use my graphics card). Add in whatever random issues I was getting trying to remote into other windows machines on my domain (for CAD work). My day job is in software engineering/ programming, so I’m not exactly a stranger to digging through documentation and fixing computer issues, but spending time fixing my computer instead of using it got old pretty quick.
Perfectly happy with Linux in my HomeLab and on my steamdeck though!
See‽ Easy explanation. I get it, absolutely reasonable issues, and one of several areas Linux just isn’t great with. “Too many issues to explain here” doesn’t click with me.
Word
LibreOffice Write
I just switched to Linux mint as a HTPC and it works great! Wine and Bottles bridged most of the gaps in software availability.
Try winegui as well…
nice!
Ive personally used proton as well for the one program that I need in windows land. It works really well.
https://twitter.com/MayaPosch/status/1809311467545735654
— Maya Posch, author of the submitted article
I guess maybe that’s their reason.
That tweet must be some kind of joke, because I don’t know what to make of the many people who use Linux outside of embedded and server applications. And it doesn’t even have to be my hearsay because the Steam Deck is exactly such a device.
In fact, I have a USB audio interface which I use near daily on Linux that has no driver support in modern Windows, because the vendor only provided beta support for Windows 7 as that OS was releasing. By Windows 8 it was unsupported. So the journey of that device is XP->Stable, Vista->Stable, 7->Unstable, 8±> Non-functioning. If the driver ABI were so stable, why does my device not work on Windows anymore?
FreeBSD has stable ABIs (inside one major version).
Anyway, this is not an answer, NVidia drivers had a binary part and a part compiled during installation for the specific kernel version, that’s one possible solution. Linux developers are ideologically against this, yes, and don’t want binary drivers to be first-class citizens.